MIAMI & HAVANA GUIDE FOR SPONSORS

as of June 2013

CGE books our flights in/out of Havana through Marazul Charters. If you have charter-related problems, call Marazul at 1-800-223-5334 or 201-840-6711. Our primary agents are Luisa Sanchez (ext. 15) and Mayra Alonso (ext. 11); backup is Marazul Vice President Bob Guild (ext. 16).

Marazul issues vouchers for Cuba flights instead of tickets. These vouchers get exchanged for boarding passes at the gateway airport for the outbound flight to Cuba and at the Havana airport for return flight to the United States.

Miami Gateway

  1. Marazul’s travel packet will indicate exactly where the group will check in and at what time (i.e. 11:30 am at Concourse G, 2nd floor). Four hours for check-in may seem ridiculous, but it can take that long for everyone to go through multiple screenings and get out to the departure gate. Check-in can be complicated to find since charter companies set up temporarily at a ticket counter right before the charter leaves. You may have to ask several times and may get conflicting responses. Check-in is usually on the baggage, rather than the ticketing, level of the Miami airport.
  2. If possible, get to the area early and identify yourself to the charter staff at the ticket counter as the leader of a group that is ready to check-in. Provide a list of everyone in your group. Charters are very strict about the weight and size limits for carry-ons and checked luggage (listed on ticket vouchers). On occasion passengers also have been asked to provide their approximate body weight. There are additional fees for checked bags and weight overage. Travel seminar participants are responsible for covering these fees, which must be paid in cash during check-in at both the Miami and Havana airports. There is a $20 fee to check a bag. Charter agents may obligate passengers to check a bag that they consider to be too heavy (more than 20 pounds) or too large. Be forewarned that agents have, at times, required that all roller board suitcases and all backpacks larger than a daypack be checked (even though a commercial airline would allow them to be carried on). Participants should have a $20 bill handy in case they must check their bag. More than a combined total of 44 pounds for checked luggage—your carry-on bag, purse, day pack, etc.— is considered to be overweight. Overweight charges are $2 per pound. The charter company will weigh all of your bags together.
  3. Get everyone assembled and get all of the documentation to check in as a group. The check-in processusually has 2 steps:
  4. LINE 1: Each participant will check in and exchange one ticket voucher and the signed and dated Reservation Form (clipped to the front of the Marazul travel packet) for a boarding pass. They will need to show their passport and Cuban visa in order to do that. Each passenger will be given Cuban immigration/customs and public health forms.
  5. LINE 2: Each passenger’s purse, day pack, and carry-on and checked luggage will be screened and weighed. Any overage will have to be paid for in cash.
  6. The group then goes through the regular TSA airport security screening process and out to the departure date. Security lines at the Miami airport, that have always been very long, will likely take longer still because of the federal government sequester. Please advise participants to proceed on through and then buy food near the departure gate.
  7. Once at the departure gate, stay alert. Recently, one CGE group was surprised when their flight loaded and departed ½ hour before its scheduled departure time because all of the passengers had checked in!
  8. The flight from Miami will be about an hour with only a beverage served. All flights are on jet aircraft, chartered by Marazul. The planes themselves may be unmarked or from another carrier.

Havana Airport Process (Jose Martí International): Upon arrival, get in line to go through immigration. Ask your group members to spread out in various lines and position yourself to go through last. Try to float between the lines just in case anyone has any questions or problems. If anyone in the group runs into problems entering Cuba, drop the name of Rev. Raul Suárez, co-founder of the Martin Luther King Center and Cuban legislator.

Your group is travelling with tourist visas that have been issued by the Cuban government. Although everyone will have a visa in hand, Cuban immigration officials make the final call whether a person will be permitted to enter the country. If asked by Cuban authorities, group members should state that the purpose of their travel is “tourism.” The group is not studying at a Cuban university and therefore does not need student visas. [Note: it is the U.S. government that requires that travelers to Cuba demonstrate they are there for educational purposes.] If they are asked where they are staying in Cuba they should answer the Martin Luther King Memorial Center in Havana, since that it is the official host of your group.

Everyone in your group will have to show their passport, Cuban visa, and return ticket voucher, and get their photo taken. The Cuban immigration agent will take one half of the Cuban visa and tuck the other half into the passport. If members of your group want their passport stamped with a Cuban entry stamp, they will have to state that clearly to the agent. Tell folks to be very careful not to lose the second half of their Cuban visa as they will need it to exit the country.

The next step is to claim checked luggage off the carousel. If porters help the group with luggage, it will be necessary to tip them about US$1 per bag.

Advise your group to use the “Nothing to Declare” line at Customs. Luggage is commonly inspected due to increased terrorist threats and drug trafficking around the world. It is standard practice to ask arriving passengers to line up their luggage and stand a few feet in front of their bags in a single file line. Bomb/drug dogs may be used to sniff the luggage.

On September 1, 2012, the Cuban government instituted new customs duties. Travelers are permitted to bring 66 pounds of miscellaneous goods into Cuba without charge. Everything after that is taxed at US$4.55/pound. The payment of import taxes is the responsibility of individual participants, and not a CGE program expense.

One or two group members and/or the group leader may be picked out of the line for questioning as to what they are doing in Cuba. Be attentive and try to help answer questions if someone else is chosen for questioning. Again, this should not scare people: it is common practice in Cuba as it is in the United States.

Once a person has cleared customs, they must give the claim ticket for their checked luggage to an agent who will compare it to the tag on the bag.

In the customs area, before exiting through the glass sliding door, there is a CADECA (Casa deCambio)with money exchange windows. Each person should change U.S. dollars into Convertible Cuban pesos (CUC) for their spending money during the trip. They will need their passport to do this. It is prohibited to use U.S. dollars for transactions in Cuba. The Cuban government levies an additional 10% exchange fee for transactions from U.S. dollars into CUCs.

Upon exiting the customs area, the group should stay together on the sidewalk in the waiting area that is roped off just in front of the sliding door until everyone is through customs and has changed money. Your MLK guideand CGE Trip Leader will be waiting for you there.

Once everyone is ready, you will take your luggage out to the parking lot, put it on the MLK bus, and then drive approximately 20-30 minutes from the airport to the casa particular where you will be lodged.